2007/09/30

Written & Directed by Kurosawa KiyoshiGerne: HorrorRuntime: 118 minutesCountry/Language: Japan/JapaneseOfficial Site, IMDbSynopsis: A group of young friends is shaken by the unexpected suicide of one of their own and his subsequent nebulous reappearances. Soon they discover that there is a large number of lonely people, on-line, stranded from society that disappear in the same mysterious way, only to linger as ghastly projects of themselves.

Before any further comments, I must state that the director is unrelated to Akira Kurosawa and if you watch this film it would be more then obvious. Kairo, was released in 2001, just before J-Horror came to mass production. (Un)fortunately, the internet technology was very different then, dial-up modems, lagging, choppy video, etc. Thus, some of the technophobia is really outdated. Despite the low-budget and age of this film, everything seems in place, obviously because of the staffs' talent and hard work. CG-work and editing have done wonders for the very creepy special effects. Acting is also surprisingly good, avoiding the pompous styles popularized in Kyoto Area.

The story itself is unfolding slowly, which perfectly suits this type of film. It gives time to the audience to guess, think, but more importantly, feel the events unfolding. On the downside, the two main plotlines are very fickly connected near the end of the film by an apparently random event, in order to lead to the film's climax. But still having in mind the jokes for scripts the vast majority of modern horror and thrillers have, filled with plotholes, Kairo really shines with its coherence.

I must stress that this film is neither scary nor gory, it is though creepy, the metaphysical element springs from everyday events becoming itself casual and common (within the films myth). Also good use of lightning (actually, the lack of) and minimalistic shots give a very eerie feeling throughout the film. I heard and read many complains about it, but in my opinion horror is not about finding the killer or understanding the metaphysics proposed, it is though about experiencing a disconnection from reality and Kairo certainly achieves that.

I shouldn't forget to also mention that this film was distributed in the US in 2005! While in Europe it was around a couple of months after its original release in Japan (2001). As if this was not enough, in 2006 Hollywood made a remake, as the fad continues even today, which failed to capture the atmosphere of the original work, by simplifying the plot and putting in new and shinny special effects.

In conclusion, if you like slow and eerie films that play more on the emotional impact they have on the viewer, watch Kairo. If you prefer everything to be explained so even idiots can understand, crimson blood dripping from a a poor maidens lifeless body every other scene or to scare your teen girlfriend to get her laid, avoid it!

2007/09/28

It the beginning of my second year in Information Engineering of the Hamburg's Technical University. I spend a lot of time during the summer break on reflecting upon my choice to study here. Many things were very unexpected, both good and bad. What really surprised me was that I was not the only person that wandered what could be be better and why some things went wrong, many of the faculty's members also wanted feedback from the students, which is a very good sign.

But let me first put things into context for those who are not acquainted with the situation. In Germany, engineering is very unpopular among students, but very popular among employers. Also is one of those unfortunate big european countries (along with UK, France, Spain and Italy) where the population is usually incompetent to hold a non-casual conversation in a foreign language. This creates a very weird situation in all engineering departments, where half the students are foreigners. A solution tried was the creation of bilingual and even strictly english departments (like mine), but these were quickly filled out with more foreigners. German students that pursue in their home country an academic degree continue to choose the easiest options (whether based on language or field). Now since most of public universities have strong ties with industries, not providing the required human resources (because the vast majority of foreign students return to their homelands) or by providing german students who can not read an english manual or communicate with their abroad, puts them in very awkward position and threatens this successful relationship.

In my opinion there is a number of reasons that this situation came to be. In general some have to do with the universities themselves and the way they operate and on the other hand there are some structural problems in modern german society (some though are pan-european) . Engineering by itself is considered a boring and complicated subject, since it requires an advanced knowledge of the infamous mathematics, usually combined with physics and/or chemistry. And though there is no way to make them easier (and shouldn't), it can be made much more accessible, if the teachers and professors stop just filling the students heads with endless formulas and excersises and for a change make them understand what and why they are learning. Most students finish university and even then they don't understand basic concepts, like the correlation between integrals & surfaces or derivatives, rates & tangents. Most attention is being paid on the ability to solve standardized exercises quickly then understanding the principles of science and thus beign able to solve and most importantly understand complex and advanced problems.

Another problem is that many teachers consider their work in university only as means of gaining a lot of money and social status. Especially this hurts education, since they don't really care about the education of the students, but their image among the rest of their peers. Fortunately this is not such a common occurrence in Germany as it was in Greece, but one such person in a key subject is enough to create a lot of damage. For example in electrical engineering, if the teacher isn't capable of making students understand a couple of concepts and principles, all his students however good they performed in the final exam, the y are bound to spend endless hours in analog & digital electronics, system theory and so on learning what they should have, but didn't. This has the follow up effect of alienating the students from their professors, instead of seeing them as their assistants, they begin to perceive them as hindrances of their future. Even more examples can be found in primary and secondary education.

Another important point where Technical Universities fail miserably is that their greatest asset, the laboratory training, becomes their most obvious failure. Practical training is imperative for engineers, but most students before having at least some lab experience think that it is forced and unnecessary. Most even have no idea what and why they are doing the labs. One way around this is the integration of lectures and labs, if this can be coupled with in a project that will gradually cover the subjects material, it would make lab work interesting and sought, as well as the lecture attendance will increase. Another closely related point is the practical examination of a students skill and not an exam disconnected from practical reality. Most graduates are paralyzed when they first have to work because they might be able to solve an exercise in paper, but never realized the bond this has with real practical problems they face at work.

And as this is not enough, TUs have some incomprehensible names for their departments so that no student can understand what he is studying until he is half way through. Who knows the difference between communication and information engineering or between the later and informatics. This has such an easy solution, one of my professor just show a mobile phone and explained which engineer develops what part of the the phone. If in any of those presentation this took place it would give a very clear picture about what we study and then it would very easy to explain what is interesting and challenging.

Obviously there are two sources for these problems, society and management. In a limited state-control mass-consuming society, social recognition is dominated by the "american dream", fast and easy money. This has a profound extent to education, easy subjects become popular, finance/management departments become popular. Whatever needs seer intellect is a turn-off, even engineering becomes a combination of theoretical science and simplified application. It is no surprise that during the last decade engineers recycle and improve old technology instead of making new inventions. On the other hand, universities market their studies instead of informing students about them. They point out how advanced equipment they have, how many parties they throw, how cool are their dorms and so on. They never explain what an information engineer does for a living, they never explain what and more importantly why students learn and study their subjects.

Every beginning has an end. True but it works also the other way around. Now with only three shows continuing (Hayate no Gotoku, Higurashi no naku koro ni Kai and Sky Girls), it's time for the new season, packed again with romance/harem/comedy for the masses. I only bothered here with shows that are supposed to get subbed and have at least some remote interest for me. They are sorted by air date.

Bamboo Blade

1.10, ? episodesOfficial, aniBD, ANNsubded by HuzzahKojirou is the kendo instructor at Muro`e High School. He is totally broke. He has agreed to send his team to a competition against his senpai`s team. If his all female team can win the competition, he will have free meals for a year! But, the problem is that Kojirou seems unable to find five, gifted girls to form the "dream team" -- and time is running out... Based on a seinen manga by Totsuka Masahiro, illustrated by Igarashi Aguri and serialised in Young Gangan. Screenplay is written by Kurata Hideyuki, original creator of Read or Die and scriptwriter of several other good stories (Excel Saga, Hellsing OVA, Kamichu, Agga Ruter, etc.). Description can be misleading or at least I hope so. In any case, I'm into kendo, so I'll give it a try.

Blue Drop: Tenshi-tachi no Gikyoku

2.10, 13 episodesOfficial, aniDB, ANNsubded by Genjo-Fags, Simoun FansA mystery erupts at an all-girls school and some of them suddenly find themselves embroiled in god only knows what involving mecha, kidnappings, and a healthy dose of yuri.Don’t let other people fool you, this is a prequel to the pre-existing manga, and takes place about three years before the mysterious disappearances. Original story based on Yoshitomi Akihito`s Blue Drop manga.Screenplay is written by Takahashi Natsuko, responsible for the scripts of Bleach, Deltora, Full Metal Alchemist, Gankutsuo, Jigokou Shoujo, Marimite, School Rumble and VanDread among others; so it's a safe bet that the original story is going to be untouched. I expect something similar to Simoun, yuri X mecha, not too bad, but still not that exciting neither.Mokke2.10, ? episodesOfficial, aniDB, ANNsubded by AnonymousBased on the seinen manga by Kumakura Takatoshi, serialised in Afternoon. Shizuru and Mizuki are sisters born in a family with spiritual abilities. While the older one, Shizuru, is able to see spirits, goblins and stuff like that, the younger one, Mizuki, has a propensity for getting possessed. As their calm and peaceful days of youth progress, they have many encounters which lead them to respect and treasure life and all its beauties and marvels. This is a story about the experience of youth and growing up. In one word, spiritual.

Dragonaut: The Resonance3.10, ? episodesOfficial, aniDB, ANNsubded by Infinite-ZeroNo descritpion yet. A completely original production about a future world with monsters, people with magical powers and fighting mechanized dragons.Character designs are from Uno Makoto (Gravion, Stellvia and Witchblade) which can be both good and bad, probably this one is closer to Stellvia though, which I liked. Bad news is that it's a GONZO show, infamous for it's plot screw ups as well as bad integration of 3D and 2D CGs.

Clannad4.10, ? episodesOfficial, aniDB, ANNsubded by a.f.k., Eclipse, Fallingsnow, Sprocket Hole Subs, idPROAdaption of the renowned visual novel by Visual Art`s/Key. Clannad is set in a high-school located in some Japanese town. Okazaki Tomoya is a third-year student who doesn`t take his studies seriously. Always late for class, he`s seen as a delinquent by the rest of his classmates who are busy preparing for their entrance examinations. Needless to say, he hasn`t too many close friends either. Tomoya seems not to mind too - until one day he meets a girl, Furukawa Nagisa, who is left alone without friends on this school, because everybody she knew already graduated. What a clumsy girl, he thinks at first. But he can`t leave her alone and so, while helping her, he meets a few other girls from his school. Although he doesn`t care much about them at first, he soon opens his heart to them as they get to know each other better. Directed by Ishihara Tatsuya (Air, Kanon 2006 and Haruhi); very promising sign. Seeries composition and screenplay by Shimo Fumiko (Air, Bakuretsu Tenshi, Kannon 2006 and Higurashi 2) and character design is by Hinoue Itaru also responisble for Key's other three seasonal games (Air, Kannon & ONE).

Shakugan no Shana II4.10, ? episodesOfficial, aniDB, ANNsubded by Kuroneko&IY-FThe continuing adventures of the Flame Haze Shana, along with the everburning Torch, Yuuji as they fight monsters out to devour the existence of the world. Along with Clannad & Genshiken, are the most anticipated shows of this season. Staff and primary voice actors are the same as in the first series, so don't expect any surprises.

ef - a tale of memories6.10, 12 episodesOfficial, aniDB, ANNsubded by Conclave, AQSBased on the visual interactive novel by Minori, featuring character designs by Nanao Naru. The story revolves around the protagonist Hirono Hiro, a poor high school boy who draws shoujo manga for his living. One cold Christmas night after meeting a very strange woman in a church, who tells him that he`s going to meet someone he has to meet, his bike gets stolen by another strange girl. He runs after her and finds her collapsed on the street. Her name is Miyamura Miyako and her bag got stolen by a man on a motorbike. Soon after, they start hanging out together, enjoying highschool life. Miyako falls for Hiro pretty quickly but naturally finds a rival in his childhood friend, Shindou Kei, who has been dictating Hiro`s life since ever.The director was responsible for the two Negima OVA, series composition is by Takayama Tatsuhiko of Ai yori Aoshi ~ Enishi, Demonbane OVA, Han-tsuki, Stratos TV. Both are not very promising, but they might pull it off, since SHAFT is a decent studio.

Rental Magica7.10, ? episodesOfficial, aniDB, ANNsubded by Infinite-Zero, idPRO, ShinsenIba Itsuki lived totally ignorant of magic, until he inherited his father’s company Astral. Now he’s in charge of responding to comissions from other people to solve magical problems with his team of magicians and his own new magical powers.Based on a light novel series by Sanda Makoto, illustrated by pako.Directed by Kawasaki Itsuro of Arc, Mamoru and Tsubasa Movie. Series Composition by Ikeda Mamiko of Himawari, Nagasarete Airantou and Umishou. Character Designs by Shiba Minako of .hack, Madlax, Noir and Tsubasa. pretty good staff and a novel series offer bright prospects.

Prism Ark7.10, ? episodesOfficial, aniDB, ANNsubded by ASFThe sequel to Prism Heart (never adapted), this takes place years later when knight in training Hyaweh travels to a school for mages and their knights. His ‘peaceful’ training is soon interrupted by a devestating war and the revival of ancient machines of annihilation.Directed by the hentai expert Obari Masami (Angel Blade, Gravion and Viper GTS), series composition by Hosino Yuuji (Pumpkin Scissors and Trinity Blood) not good. Add to that this is a sequel, a small studio and inexperienced character designer; the most likely thing that can come-out is an incoherent story with tons of fun-service.

Minami-ke7.10, ? episodesOfficial, aniDB, ANNsubded by A-E & SaizenBased on a seinen manga by Sakuraba Koharu, serialised in Young Magazine. Minami-ke is a manga following three sisters, Haruka, Kana, and Chiaki in their lives at home and school. It`s a funny series that depicts how these characters interact with each other and their classmates. It`s a story about ordinary girls and their ordinary adventures told in an extraordinary manner.Directed by Outa Masahiko and the series composition comes from Aoshima Takashi, both made Yokae Mae Yori Ruri Iro Na (very bad, from all aspects, including direction). On the other hand the manga is from Sakuraba Koharu, who also made Kyou no Go no Ni. The description reminds me of Binbou Shimai which I liked, now if it could be combined with the insanity of Kyou no Go no Ni it will be perfect.

Genshiken 27.10, 12 episodesOfficial, aniDB, ANNsubded by non yetWe return again to the Society for Modern Visual Studies, Genshiken, and the life and times of the collection of otaku, weirdos, and those sleeping them.This is a continuation from the OVA, so first episode of the second season is number 16 (12TV+3OVA).The director, Yoshimoto Kinji, is different from the previous season and mainly was responsible for hentai up until now (though this seems promising for Genshiken, which had problem with it's previous director). Series composition is done again by Yokote Michiko, as well as character designs are done again by Yanagida Yoshiaki, who along with the manga were the high points of the series.

Kodomo no Jikan10.10, ? episodesOfficial, aniDB, ANNsubded by GenjoBased on the seinen manga by Watashiya Kaworu, serialised in Comic High!. NOT related to the other Kodomo no Jikan by Goto Akira! It`s the cute ones you`ve gotta watch out for... 23-year old school teacher Aoki Daisuke has a huge problem. One of his precocious 3rd Grade students, Kokonoe Rin, has the hots for him?! Yes, mischievous Rin has proclaimed herself to be Daisuke-sensei`s girlfriend and is now on a warpath to win him over or cause him to lose his job...whichever comes first! Besides Rin, Daisuke`s got other problems to take care of -- one of the students in his class, Mimi (one of Rin`s friends), hasn`t been attending school recently. Directed by Suganuma Eiji, who made ages ago the abomination called Ninja Cadets! I really don't know what to expect here ...

Shion no Ou13.10, ? episodesOfficial, aniDB, ANNsubded by Anonymous, Live-evilBased on a seinen manga by Katori Masaru, serialised in Afternoon. Shion no Ou tells the story of a young girl by the name of Shion Ishiwatari. At the age of 4, Shion`s parents were murdered at their house. The police didn`t find anything at the crime scene that might lead them to the murderer apart from a shougi board upon which the pieces were lined up in an orderly fashion. Shion was not harmed even though she was at the house at the time of the murder but the shock of seeing her parents lying dead in a pool of blood resulted in the loss of her voice. The Ishiwatari neighbours and close friends, the Yasuoka family (made up of Shinji Yasuoka and his wife Sachiko) adopted Shion after the murder and raised her as their own daughter and so she was renamed Shion Yasuoka since then. Shinji is a professional Shogi player and during the years that passed after the murder, he taught Shion how to play shogi. Shion was a natural at playing shogi. She learned the game very quickly and mastered it at an early age. She rose quickly in the ranks of the game and became a genius professional player just like her new father. The story is about Shion`s life 8 years after the murder and how her chosen path as a professional shogi player might one day lead to finding her parents` murderer.Diercted by Kawase Toshifumi of Tenjyou Tenge, who blew the series budget in the first four (out of 26) episodes! If this time he manages things better, this can be very nice, provided of course it does not become another Hikari no Go, which I doubt.

Ghost Hound18.10, 22 episodesOfficial, aniDB, ANNsubded by Genjo, Ureshii, ShinsenReality is a dream, the dreams of the night are real. In the world of Utsushiyo (reality), the development of an electronic brain far far away and long ago allows two different worlds to overlap. Within the last vestiges of Japan`s raw landscape, lies a small coastal town. In it live three middle school students: Komori Tarou, Ogami Makoto, and Nakajima Masayuki. Each holds within them a unique past that cannot be erased. Once more, but by different causes, three people learn that by the extraction of one`s soul, the coming and going between Utsushiyo and Kakuriyo (hidden world) is possible. Amidst the boys` adventure in Kakuriyo, they come to understand where it is is connected to. An eternal spiritual story is offered to the adults who possess the minds of boys.Directed by Nakamura Ryutaro who was also responsible for three of my favorite shows ever (SE: Lain, Kino no Tabi and REC). Original story is made by the famou Shirow Masamune (Appleseed and Ghost in the Shell). Story composition is done by Konaka Chiaki, who I love and hate, since he has done some of the best (SE: Lain, Narutaru and Texhnolyze), and worse (Digimon, Giant Robo and OMG Air Gear). But still this is an all star team and the Production I.G is one of the biggest studios.

Shana & Genshiken are certain watches, even if they don't live up to their predecessors. Those aside, at last we get a sport anime about kendo, after so many crap about cycling, tennis, basketball, even go (japanese chess) got one. Ghost Hound also looks promising. But the rest ... all of them ... fall to crypto-harem/ex-H-game/moe fad, some might actually prove good, but usually they don't. And be prepared, I will flame Clannad in every chance I have, since I am a Fate / Stay Night fan. Description come from aniDB, ANN, animeNFO, Tenka Seiha and me.

2007/09/26

Well, shows airing during the the summer come one by one to an end. The only ones that continue into new seasons are Higurashi (despite the axe-happy japanese teenegers) and Hayate (for the whooping number of 52 episodes). Unfortunately though most of the shows don't have their subs out yet, so my opinion is based on the raws coupled with my limited knowledge of japaneese language.

Bokura noI am a big fun of the mangaka's other work (Narutaru) and I am also following this manga. Unfortunately, it was picked up by GONZO, a studio infamous for screwing up plots. Well, they certainly changed a lot of stuff, but thankfully not to the point of unwatchability (like Basilisk, Black Cat, GantZ, Hellsing, Kiddy Grade, Trinity Blood). I think that when you have a very strong original work, it is rather hard to make it worse then mediocre. This is the case here, some stories were done very well while others seemed forced. In any case, Triad is subbing this one, slowly but carefully.PS: Also for a change, GONZO avoided ridiculous 3D-mecha CGs this time they at least decent, but unfortunately most battles were just shadows of their manga originals.

Code-EThis is a quite nice school comedy with a pseudo-scientific twist. It's quite easy to watch and reminds me a lot of Read or Die (music, plot structure, character design). Of course it never reached the epic proportions of its "predecessor", but was a nice to follow during the summer when I had a lot of free time.

Darker then BlackVery nice animation and character designs, coupled with a spy/conspiracy plot as well as 2-episode stories, made DtB one of my favourites these two seasons.

My only problem was that at some points it was becoming to confusing, even with subs I had to pay a lot of attention to what was happening.

Dennou CoilThis show reminds me a lot of Serial Experiments: Lain. The setting is very similar, with a virtual reality overlapping our own, the passing is also slow, the script takes its time to unfold and as 90% of the anime the protagonists are teens. Though there are some huge differences, Lain dealt with very complex themes, while Coil seems very superficial and episodic, with the main plot more as the driving force behind character development. Philosophy and complexity was what made Lain stand out (OK, also ABe's character designs), but this is exactly what Dennou Coil lacks.

Doujin WorkMy opinion in this 10-min series fluctuated wildly during its airing. Some episodes were just hilarious, while others were just boring. Probably it will fade from memory after the new season of Genshiken.

Kaibutsu OujoTsundere, Oujo-tachi, lolis, vampires, werewolves, maids and a worthless male lead, all wrapped in a gothic-punk-kitsch wrapping and thrown to you while listening Ali Project with an excuse for a plot. This was really painfull to watch, but I'll admit my sin, I watched all of it since I am a fetishist with the above (except lolis and worthless male leads).

ClaymoreAnd since I was speaking of worthless male leads, it's a good time to comment on Claymore, the only shounen show I followed. I loved every single episode without Raki, some of the stories were especially well made both visually and plot-wise. And it's been some times since I have seen a series with so many memorable characters (Teresa, Ophelia, Irene, Raphaela, Claire, Priscilla, Jean and the list goes on). Unfortunately, that worthless piece of crap, Raki, had to appear in the end (after dissappearing for 10+ episodes) to ruin a majestic original ending. In any case I should also mention that the anime diverted from the manga storyline after the death of the Lion-King.

UmishouExcessive fun-service, without plot, BUT original characters. Well this is fun to watch, if you don't really mind fun-service for the sake of it (a la Ikkitousen) and still you can see some totally peculiar responses from very weird and disturbed personalities (in a comedic way).

Lucky StarThis is really hard to just show. First of all I must confess that I simply love Azumanga Daioh, so Lucky Star seemed that it follow in its footsteps where so many other shows failed to do so. Also I like shows that are sarcastic about anime/manga culture. Not to mention that KyoAni is by far the best studio today. But still, despite all good portents this show never grew on me. There episodes that had hilarious gags but also very boring parts. I found myself many times just picking other series to watch, while 3 and 4 episodes of Lucky Star just sat around. I can not say that this is a boring show, it is quite good, but certainly there something missing.

Nanoha SThe lolis came back for a third time and for two seasons. Though, now Nanoha, Fate and Hayate are not any more lolis, but things got even more interesting in an adult way ;) Well the fusion of shounen and mahou-shoujo with seamless use of engirisu, that worked so well for the previous two seasons had some serious pacing and budget problems this year. Probably the reason is that they made 26 episodes instead of 13, thus we got endless training sessions and countless characters introduced, speaking for 5 seconds and getting beaten up in the next episode, never appearing again. But despite its failings Nanoha had some pretty good stories, unfortunately centered around the new main characters (Teana, Subaru-Ginga). In any case, I liked it, but not as much as the previous two.

PS: What the hell is up with Raider (from Fate) & Etna (from Digaea) cloning in the guise of Lutecia & Agito (they even matched in personality)!

PS2: I really love Fate's taste in underwear, probably she never got over the jaded mentality from the first season whipping!

PS3: Nanoha is a smart girl, she got a bed big enough not only for her long time lover (Fate), but also for Hayate when the decide to make a threesome (I am referring to the episode, where they wake up together, from a pajama party, though didn't wear pajamas)!

Kaze no StigmaAnother GONZO show, that suffered from plot inconsistencies and as I heard totally distorted the original novel. At some point japanese scriptwriters must realize that tsundere protagonists are not enough for 26 episodes. As for animation and character design this show fluctuated, probably because the budget was inconsistant, GONZO had 5-6 shows this seasons.

Nagasarete AirantouThe harem anime of this season was ok, but not even close to the heights of Hina and Aoi. Had both funny and boring moments, and even successful drama.

PotemayoThis caught me by surprise, normally I would skip a show like this because its character designs looked childish, but trust me this show had very adult humour. A parody basically, with some hilarious episodes that stood out during the season.

Seto no HanayomeAnother surprise this season. School Comedy is something done again and again, but this one has pretty interesting character, without the indecisive male lead. Also the show is very sacrastic, about other anime as well as cinema (both domestic and foreign), as well as japanese mindset.

Still it doesn't become boring and thankfully never takes itself seriously. When situations grow too serious, instead of just admiring itself and continuing with the dramatic scene, they just lighten it up in the most hilarious way possible (a good example is the climax of first story arc). Very well done scriptwriting, good character designs exceptional voice acting. This one stood out these seasons.

WellberIn general I don't like steam-punk, but this one was pretty good, the two girls were very interesting characters and their adventures quite well-made.

Zetsubou SenseiThis one was also on the weird side. I must say that if someone is not familiar with the japanese culture should avoid this show since he is not going to understand even half a joke.Also I liked the character designs, which are the standard H-game that domminate these days.

Zero no Tsukaima IIThis was a big let down. The plot from minimal reached ZERO! And if was not enough Siesta transformed into a stupid slut. Anyway, I think that Zero's only reason of existence is to warm people up while waiting for Shana.

2007/09/25

Hi,this is the lanch post, in which I would just write some crap, in order to see how things work. Generally, I plan to write about anime, movies, role-playing, V:tES, Iaido, programming, life in Hamburg and other boring stuff. For those wondering I put Aoi from Tokyo Majin Gakuen on the title. As for the title and URL of my blog, they refer to an emotional state that always intrigued me; the dissolution of identity and the gradual (usually under conditioning) assumption of another.